Caster



(N0 ModeL) 2 Shets-Sheet 1. S. G. MENDENHALL.

GASTER. No. 314,968. Patented Mar. 31, 1885.

Fl e m FIG V- (No Model.)

S. O. MENDENHALL.

- (FASTER No. 314,968. Patented Mar. 31, 1885.

2 Sheets--Sheet 2.

F l G- X furniture-socket.

Ihvrrnn STATES STEPHEN G. MENDENHALL, OF RICHMOND, INDIANA.

CASTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 314,968, dated ldarch 31, 1885.

Application filed February :25, 1885. (No model.)

To aZZ whom, it may concern.-

I Be it known that I, STEPHEN O. MENDEN- HALL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Richmond, in the county of Wayne and State of Indiana, (present business address Cincinnati, Ohio,) have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Casters, of which the following is a specification.

The present improvements relate to casters for furniture and other articles in which the socket or furniture attachment and saddle or floor-wheel housing are made of wrought metal cut out or stamped into the form required. The advantage of such a method of making these parts of casters is that they can be made exceedingly light at little cost while possessing great strength. The floor-wheel of theimproved caster is preferably made of glass with a floor-surface which is corrugated in the process of molding, so as to enable the roller to take a firmer hold upon the floor and aid the swiveling of the caster. It is necessary to provide a glass caster-roller with some form of bushing. This I preferably make of vulcanized fiber, wood, rubber, or other elastic material, a block of which is forced into the axial opening molded in the roller and then fixed by wedging out one end into a chamfer or notch provided in the body of the roller.

In order that the invention may be better understood, I will proceed to describe it with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure I is a plan view of the housing or saddle blank as struck out ready to have its horns turned over. Fig. II is asimilarview of the blank employed for making one part of the Fig. III is a vertical sectional View of a mold for making my improved floor wheel or roller. Fig. IV represents the roller in section with the tool employed for slitting one of the ends of the bushing to receive a wedge for holding the same in the roller. Fig. V is a sectional view of the floorroller complete. Fig. VI is aface View of the same. Fig. VII is a side elevation of a complete caster. Fig. VIII is a vertical section of the same. Fig. IX is a plan view of the saddle detached. Fig. X is a sectional view through the furniture socket, showing the horizontal anti-friction movement. Fig. XI is aside elevation of one of the parts of the furniture-socket, the cap-plate being shown there on in vertical section. Fig. XII is a vertical sectional view of the preferred form of the furniture-socket as adapted for non-separating casters. Fig. XIII is a vertical sectional view of the saddle on the line XIII XIII, Fig. IX, omitting the floor-wheel axle.

In making my improved wrought caster I cut a number of blanks of the shape shown in Fig. I, having two curved arms, 1 1. united at center by flat portion 2, which forms the top of the saddle, and in which is punched a hole, 3, for the spindle. At the same time holes iin the ends of the horns 1 l are punched, bulges 1 are stamped in the arms 1 for strengthening same, and four little depressions, 5, are made in the flat top of the saddle for the purpose hereinafter set forth. The blank 181311611 forced into shape by turning down its horns 1 into the form shown in Figs. VII, VIII, IX.

The furniture-socket of the caster is made in two parts, the blanks therefor being prepared in the form shown in Fig. II in full lines. These blanks are i then stamped into the form shown in dotted lines in Fig. II and in full lines in. Fig. XI, with a vertical barrel or socket, 6, having at bottom an enlarged chamber, '7, for the anti-friction rollers 8. (Shown in Fig. X.) Vertical ridges 9, as shown in Figs. VII and XI, or spiral ribs 10, asshown in Fig. XII, may be struck in thesocket at the same or a subsequent operation, these ridges or ribs serving to hold the socket into the furniture when placed in position. In the form shown in Fig. XII, at the same or at a subsequent stamping operation, an external groove, 11, is made in the socket for the purpose of making an annular ridge, 12. on the inside of the socket near its top for holding the spindle in position therein when the caster is put together. 13 is a rivet for holding the two parts of the socket together at the top. 14 is a cap-plate for holding the two parts of the socket together at bottom, and at the same time retaining the horizontal anti-friction rollers 8 within the socket.

The spindle 15 of the caster is made with sphere-segmental cavity for a hard'metal anti-friction ball, 15, at its upper end, and with a shoulder, 16, near its lower end. 17 18 are two rectangular or other shaped plates or washers, so stamped as to have four little depressions on one side and corresponding bosses on the other to engage with the bosses and depressions 5 in the saddle. This construction is shown most clearly in Fig. XIII.

In putting the caster together, one of the washers 17 18 is placed on each side of the saddle 2, and the same is slipped over the spindle until the upper washer, 17, strikes the shoulder 16. The bottom of the spindle is then riveted over the lower washer, 18, so as to hold saddle and spindle tightly together, the depressions and bosses 5 on the saddle and washers preventing any relative horizontal movement between these parts. The two parts of the socket are then riveted together at top, the anti-friction rollers placed in position therein, and the cap-plate forced on the bottom, its edge being turned over the sides of chamber 7. as shown in Fig. VIII. Thesocket and saddle are then ready to be put together, the ball 15 being first dropped into the socket before the spindle is inserted therein. This is the method of puttin g the caster together when a separating caster is desired. In the case of a non-separating caster, the spindle is provided with a groove near its top. (Shown in dotted lines in Fig. VIII.) In this case the rivet 13 is not employed to fasten the two parts of the top together until the spindle is in posit-ion within the socket; or, if the socket be first riveted, the spindle may be forcibly driven in until its head comes beyond the ridge 12, (shown in Fig. XII;) or the said ridge may be struck in the top alter the spindle is in position, so as finally to hold the spindle in the socket.

In Fig. X I have shown the horizontal antifrict ion rollers 8 made of sections of tubing; but it is obvious that they may be made solid by being cut ofi' of solid metallic rods.

The glass floorroller is cast in the mold shown in Fig. III, the principal parts of which have been described in my former application No. 154,377, filed January 29, 1885. As herein shown, however, the jaws of said mold are made with horizontal corrugations 19, which form similar corrugations on the otherwise flat bearing-face 20 of the fioor-roller. An axial opening is made in the roller in the process of molding, and such opening is subsequently bored or ground out to provide a cylindrical or slightly-tapering bearing for a bushing, 21, of vulcanized fiber, wood, rubber, orother suitable material. At one or both ends the axial opening is slightly enlarged or chamfered, and the bushing is slitted and spread into this chamfer by means of the tool 22. (Shown in Fig. IV.) Said tool has a cylindrical centering-pin, 23, for occupying the bearing within the journal, and a sharpened wedge, 24, for forming a circular slit in the bushing at one or both ends. In such slit a ring-shaped or other wedge, 25, is driven, thus forcing the outer part of the bushing to spread and occupy the chainfer in the roller, and thus prevent the bushing from loosening and falling out. Said wedges may be provided at each end of the bushing, or one end may be slightly smaller than the other, and in this end alone such'wedge would then be necessary.

It is observable that the corrugated or roughened face of the floor-roller will adapt it to take firm hold on the carpet or floor, so as to prevent sidewise movement of the roller over the carpet and force the same to swivel about the vertical spindle. Such construction also renders the roller applicable to skates'for the same reason namely, the preventing of the lateral movement of the roller upon the floor.

Having thus described my invention, the following is what I claim as new therein and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. In a caster, a wrought socket or top stamped out in two parts, having ridges or ribs stamped therein for holding the socket within the furniture, substantially as set forth.

2. A wrought socket or top for casters having an annular depression stamped around it near its top, forming an internal ridge for re taining the spindle in place, substantially as set forth. a

8. In combination with a wrought saddle, washers on each side of the same, and corresponding depressions and bosses in the saddle and washers, for preventing relative horizontal movement between these parts, substan tially as set forth.

4. A floor wheel or roller made with circumferential corrugations, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

5. In combination with a floor wheel or roller having axial opening, chamfered or recessed, as described, a bushing therefor, and a wedge for forcing said bushing into the chamfer or recess, for the purpose set forth.

STEPHEN C. MENDEN HALL.

\Vitnesses:

HARRY E. KNIGHT, GEO. L. WunnLooK. 

